Adam Jackson, director of public affairs at Grant Thornton UK LLP, says Philip Hammond has hinted at the likely priorities of this summer’s spending review (assuming’s he’s still chancellor at that stage)

taking on ‘digital giants’ (such as Amazon, Google, Facebook) with an investigation into competition in digital advertising and confirmation that the UK will press ahead with a digital services tax despite it being dropped as an EU-wide proposal (it has not been dropped by a number of EU countries such as France, Spain and Italy)

The Treasury says the spring statement offered several new spending and policy commitments for Scotland, which included a £65m share of the £260m on offer in the new Borderlands growth deal which will straddle the English and Scottish border.

Coincidentally boosting the electoral fortunes of the Conservative MPs who have seats on either side of the border, the Treasury said it meant that regional partnership would be getting a total of £362m.

Edinburgh University will get £79m for a new “Archer 2” supercomputer, “providing researchers with a fivefold increase over the current computing capacity, paving the way for new discoveries in pharmaceuticals, climate science and aerospace.”

There would also be reviews of whether the aggregates levy, which is now devolved to Scotland, benefits devolved areas sufficiently; reforms to how VAT is claimed back by government departments after an embarrassing row over a VAT bill for Police Scotland; and efforts to boost oil and gas decommissioning industries.

Torsten Bell, Director of the Resolution Foundation, says the government has the firepower to end austerity, if it wants to:

“In a speech light on policy, the Chancellor used a £30bn windfall from the OBR to promise sunny uplands if Parliament delivers a smooth Brexit in the months ahead.

“The Chancellor’s £26bn of fiscal firepower is more than enough to bring austerity to an end in the Spending Review later this year. This marks a major shift as the debate in British politics moves to focusing on how much more we should spend, rather than how deeply to cut.

“But despite an improvements to the public finances driven in part by particularly fast earnings growth for high earners, austerity will continue for just about managing families, who face a £1.8 billion hit from the benefit freeze in just three weeks’ time.”

This chart, from the Office for Budget Responsibility’s new report, outlines how future interest tax receipts have strengthened while debt repayment costs have fallen.

“All our homes and buildings must be made efficient, affordable and zero-carbon within the next two decades to address the climate crisis.

Ending the scandal of poor quality new homes is a no-brainer that’s good for everyone.”

Mel Evans, senior campaigner at Greenpeace UK said the plan to end fossil fuels in new homes “is vital”.... but added that we need bigger thinking to tackle the climate emergency.

Conservative MP James Heappey is also impressed (although it’s bad form not to support your own chancellor on these occasions).

James Heappey MP (@JSHeappey)

This is amazing. A significant chunk of the Spring Statement is focussed on climate change and the environment. And with some truly meaningful stuff too... No fossil fuel heating systems in new build homes within 6 years is HUGE. 🌍🌳✅